The Littlest Wizard
by bigo4190
Summary: “Big things come in little packages.” That’s what they always said. Watch what happens when one little boy discovers a secret…and shakes the Wizarding World to the core.
1. Chapter 1

**The Littlest Wizard**

By: bigo4190

Disclaimer: I do not own this. The changes that differing events cause are mine, but the original idea belongs to J.K. Rowling

Speaking: "Blah"

Speaking in other Languages: "**Blah**"

Thinking: '_Blah_'

Chapter 1

The day starts perfectly normal on Privet Drive, and no sign exists that in house #4, there lies a secret. A secret kept from the one it concerns—that tells that he is not normal—and that he has the ability to be so much more. Harry Potter, a small boy, even for his 5 years, is a wizard. His family, who aren't, know this, but they aren't telling. But some things cannot remain hidden for long. And sometimes, the harder you try and keep something secret, the harder it is to keep, and the greater is the effect when it is finally revealed. That time has come, and there are some people who won't like the results.

It was a warm summer's day, and that meant that it was time for the back garden of #4 to be weeded. This would usually be a task for the lady of the house, or perhaps a charming young girl or strapping young boy. And while the lady of the house certainly was outside most of this time, she only oversaw the work. Unfortunately, their was no girl to carry on her mothers charms, and neither of the boys in the house could be called strapping. One, the lady's son, was barely 5, already doing a reasonable impression of a young cow merely by existing; the other boy, the nephew of Petunia Dursley, was much too small for his age. But it was this boy who had the enormous task of weeding the gardens of Privet Drive. It was something he only minorly disliked, because it meant time outside, and away from his cupboard.

Young Harry breathed an unnoticeable sigh of relief when his aunt went inside for some more lemonade—she of course was too hot, but Harry who did all the work, was not allowed more than a sip of water every hour. He was shocked when, from the shade of the plant he was removing weeds from around, there came a rash of angry muttering. "**Stupid human, disturbing my sleep. I should bite him. I don't care if I'm not poisonous; the little mite deserves it.**"

Harry sat back shocked, the snake was speaking, hissing really as it still had that smoothness, and _he could understand_. "**Ex-excuse me, Mr. Snake.**"

"**A Speaker, this is a surprise. Tell me, little one, is this your first time talking to one of my kind?"**

"**Yes, I've heard of snakes before, but you're the first I've ever seen.**" Now, the conversation could have gone on further, but Petunia had come back outside, to here Harry hissing into the bushes.

'_This has gone too far. He's even worse than _her.' With no more thought than this, the horrid woman begins to rant at her nephew. "You little _freak._ It seems we were wrong. Just like your parents. The magic won't leave you; no matter what we do. It won't stare out, it won't be beaten out; and now, here you are talking to snakes—in their language. Even my horrid sister had the decency to never do that, at least around me. You won't be getting away with this though boy—when Vernon gets back you won't see daylight or food for a week, so just get out. Get…Out." And before the temporarily deranged woman can regain her senses, Harry turns and flees, not looking back. He just runs, as hard and fast as his small, underfed body can carry him.

When Harry had finally reached the limits of his body, he collapsed, lying still exactly where he had fallen—surrounded by scenery he had never seen before. He just lay on his back, taking in the scenery, when a sudden noise nearby shocks him. Harry tries desperately to move, straining, but his legs just don't have the power; but then a most strange sensation overcomes him. Closing his eyes against the pain, as it seemed his body was crushed, Harry missed the sudden change of scenery—until he opened his eyes once more, several moments later. The dilapidated cottage at the edges of the woods was certainly not what had been near him moments before. But somehow this cottage, in all of its run-down glory, seemed familiar to Harry—in fact, it screamed _home_ at him more than Privet Drive ever had. And so, finally recovering from his exhaustion, and mustering the curiosity and courage that had not yet been driven from him by the Dursleys, Harry stood, and shakily walked through the hole that used to hold a front door.

The entry of the home showed signs of damage, as if it had been the sight of a battle. While there was no blood or bodies, the scorch marks and cracked walls certainly seemed to tell of a vicious confrontation. Harry continued to walk, and soon reached a flight of stairs, leading to the upstairs. Some unknown compulsion seemed to draw Harry up the stairs, leading him down the upper hall until he reached a particular door. He had no clue as to why he had come to that door, not even bothering to look into the others, but he felt that he must see what was on the other side.

Slowly he opened the door, revealing what had to have been, at one time, a nursery. Now however, a section of the roof and far wall were missing, leaving a hole gaping out into the outdoors beyond. And there, right in front of the section blasted away, on the floor, was a circular scorch mark with a strange shape in the center of it. After only another few moments Harry realized that it was the outline of a baby, and suddenly he remembered a strange dream from the night before; he saw a sudden flash of green light followed by a flash of pain in is scar. '_No, that can't be right. Why? How? This makes no sense!_' Slowly Harry entered the room going over to the scorch mark and turning to face back towards the front of the room; it was then that he caught sight of a frame, the glass having been cracked so badly the actual picture was unseen. Even more slowly, he walked over to the picture, and carefully knocked the glass from the frame. He gasped when he saw the picture; it was a man and woman with a small baby in front of that very cottage. Looking at them, they could only be Harry as a baby with his parents. This had been his home, but then after regaining his composure, Harry noticed something strange about the picture, the figures moved. '_Mum…. Dad…. You were so much more than the Dursley's ever said. I'm going to make you proud'_ "I Promise."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Littlest Wizard**

By: bigo4190

Disclaimer: I do not own this. The changes that differing events cause are mine, but the original idea belongs to J.K. Rowling  
Speaking: "Blah"  
Thinking: '_Blah_'

Chapter 2  


* * *

Harry stays still for a few moments longer, taking in the fact that this is the house where his parents died—most likely his father in the entry way and his mother in this very room. Shakily, Harry rises to his feet, and begins to explore the house once more, the picture still clutched in one hand. The focus of his search has changed though; now he hunts for the kitchen, as he is hungry. He only hopes that whatever power it is that allows the picture to move will also allow the kitchen to still have food.

After only a short search of the downstairs, Harry managed to find the kitchen, left untouched by the people who had moved the bodies of his parents. Still scattered over the kitchen table were assorted books and old style parchment. Curiosity overcoming hunger briefly, Harry leaned over the papers, shuffling to see if there was anything he could make sense of, and finally found what seemed to be the beginning of the notes. Written clearly across the top in a smooth feminine script was the title _An Improved Form of the Fidelius Charm through the Interaction of Runes_. Now Harry may not have been able to ask questions, or even mention things remotely beyond 'normal' while he lived with the Dursleys, however he did know what a Charm was, and yes, in big letters right there under the title, included in the warning, MAGICAL. But before he can become too engrossed, his hunger makes itself known once again. Quickly looking around, Harry approaches a cupboard, and to his delight and amazement, discovers that it is refrigerator cool inside, and still stocked with food that has obviously not gone bad.

Once he had gathered himself some food, Harry sat down at the table, and began to get the notes in order again while eating. The notes should have been beyond a five-year old; however, Harry's mother was the best sort of brilliant, she had not only compiled a detailed magical diagram in full technical jargon, but kept notes in the margins to explain the overall steps in simple terms that could be followed just about anyone. Harry confirmed by reading these notes that he wasn't that far off in believing he could understand the complex magic. 'Mum thought this was important, and I can see why. She has all of the steps laid out here, so maybe I should try this. It might take a while though—that big warning at the top is something to remember—especially if I plan to follow my mother in learning this stuff.' The warning that Harry planned to mind was quite simple BE AS PRECISE AS POSSIBLE IN THE DRAWING AND PLACING OF ALL RUNES. THE SLIGHTEST MISTAKE COULD HAVE UNKNOWN AND POSSIBLY DANGEROUS EFFECTS ON THE MAGICAL MATRIX.

So it was that Harry spent the next 3 days working diligently—doing nothing else, in fact, but fulfilling bodily functions—on perfecting his handwriting and drawing until he could reproduce the Rune Pattern detailed in his mothers notes. The individual Runes came quickly enough in the first day, but the careful alignment needed was much harder. But, after those three days had passed, Harry felt ready to perform the charm. After a leisurely breakfast, Harry began to draw the final Rune Pattern. The graceful, looping symbols fit together in such an intricate manner in front of Harry as he finished the final drawing. But this still left an odd feeling within Harry, unnerved by the specially required material his mother said was needed for a personal Fidelius Charm: his own blood. Yet here he was, with the symbols glistening up at him, his own drying blood giving them greater power. Now came the activation. Without a–Harry still couldn't believe it–Magic Wand, Harry had learned how to draw at least enough magic to activate the runes… he hoped. So, with hope in his heart and magic at his fingertips, Harry leaned forward, intoning, "For the protection of Harry Potter. Fidelius!"

With the final syllable, his finger touched the now dry design. Instantly, them symbols began to glow with an inner fire, and then, leaping forth in a blazing glory of magic, the symbols wrapped themselves around Harry's head, and then expanding, spreading so that they might cover the entire house, and then, as he could just see them through the nearby window, fading from sight. Afterwards, the house shimmered for a brief moment before everything returned to normal. However, that brief burst of theatrics was more than enough to convince Harry that his mother design had worked.

* * *

The true effects that this momentous casting had were not truly discovered until a few weeks later, at the end of August. In the tower office of one eccentric Headmaster, at mid afternoon on the 31st of August, exactly twenty days after Harry Potter left 4 Privet Drive, one of Albus Dumbledore's many silver instruments began alarming that the wards surrounding Privet Drive were nearly depleted. Rushing quickly to that home the elder wizard was shocked by what he learned: that the boy had run away weeks earlier. What he found even more shocking was, when he attempted to locate the boy, all of his charms were useless. The boy was not dead, the charms could confirm that much, but his location eluded even the most advanced of tracking charms.

The Boy-Who-Lived had become the Boy-Who-Vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Littlest Wizard**

By: bigo4190

Disclaimer: I do not own this. The changes that differing events cause are mine, but the original idea belongs to J.K. Rowling  
Speaking: "Blah"  
Thinking: '_Blah_'

Chapter 3

* * *

The power that it took to cast the Fidelius Charm was nearly beyond Harry; in truth, if cast by the traditional method it would have been beyond him, but therein laid the genius of his mother's Rune Pattern. The blood used for the drawing of the Runes was itself charged with Magic, and then the pattern of the runes focused the magic without the need to waste more energy, instead drawing the energy from the surroundings, and then when the magic was added, being the same as the magic in the blood, the magic of both was amplified. When Harry's already significant magical reserves–a by-product of the attack on him, though he didn't know that yet–and the fact that he needed a third, or less, the normal amount of magic to perform the charm due to his mother's design, are taken into consideration, the fact that the performing of the charm nearly drained him becomes much more daunting.

The next morning, however, Harry was quite recovered. So, he got around to truly fulfilling his promise to his departed parents. Searching through the house, he found every book on magic in the house. Having finished collecting the books he could find, what remained was organizing, a skill Harry had quite perfected at the Dursley's. How strange and contradictory they had been: expecting him to be able to reorganize what few books they owned, yet not be able to read. Shaking his head to rid himself of those thoughts, Harry looked over the books and began the task.

What quickly became apparent was that Magic was grouped into several categories, so he arranged them into those categories, as he was able. His groups held some books along the lines of

Runes: _Rune Dictionary_, _Spellman's Syllabary_, _The Magick's of Writing: A Study of the Properties of Written Symbols  
Arithmancy: __Numerology and Grammatica_, _The Book of Numerology_, _Grammatica Provecta  
Potions: __1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi_, _Magical Drafts and Potions_, _Advanced Potion Making  
Charms: __The Standard Book of Spells (Grades 1-7), Practical Charms for Professional People  
Transfiguration: __Advanced Transfiguration_, _Mammalian Transfiguration_, _Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration  
Defense: __Confronting the Faceless_, _W.O.M.B.A.T. Revision Guide_, _Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts_

He also put aside a stack of unsorted books, which he would look more closely at after he was done with the others. So after getting the categories cleared up, Harry started to put the books into order by difficulty. But while doing this, he quickly came to realize several things. Firstly, the magic he had quickly come to label 'wanded', was exactly that: it required the use of a Magic Wand. Charms, Transfiguration, and the other various spells that together were used for Defense, he would be unable to perform; the activation of Runes, as he had learned, only needed a small pulse of magic, which was easier and more comfortable with a wand, but not impossible without one. So he was immediately without the ability to gain practical experience in those areas, but perhaps he could gain theoretical knowledge of the subjects? Alas, no; the simplest of his mother's charm books were apparently in his nursery–it seems that she had been perusing them for light reading around the time she…–well; anyway, his father was apparently very gifted in his chosen subjects, for the only books on the subject were ridiculously advanced, not a beginner, or even intermediate book in sight; without this basic knowledge, Harry was sure he would never be able to get a good grasp of the subjects.

Thus, Harry set about putting the books he couldn't use away, he noticed a book he had overlooked when he first sorted it into the miscellaneous pile; the subject matter–though extremely advanced–was in a rather odd book. On the cover of the book:

_Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs  
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers  
Proudly Present  
THE MARAUDERS' BASIC GUIDE TO  
__THE ANIMAGUS_ _TRANSFORMATION_

This book had, Property of Prongs scrawled on in a messy hand, so that would mean…it was his father's. Upon opening the book, Harry found that while still far too advanced for him to understand now, he might be able to eventually learn this with a broader understanding of magic. So instead of permanently shelving the book, he put it aside for later study.

Now that he was left with only the books he felt he could learn from at this point in his life, Harry began to organize them further, settling on a course of study for he himself to follow until he was older, and could perhaps find where he could get a Magic Wand. The first thing that became clear to him was that his mother certainly knew what she was doing when it came to potions; yes, in every book he looked at, even on one of the ingredient reactionary chart, he found scribbled changes. That reaction chart was so badly marked up he found a note saying, "See personal Chart"; and sure enough, the other chart was hand-written in the same graceful writing as the Fidelius Charm Rune Pattern instructions. Most of the changes were minute, but he figured that they good mean the difference between a perfect potion and an extremely good one.

However, because of the great number of changes his mother had made, Harry decided to wait a while before beginning potions. First of all, he wasn't sure he actually had all–or even any–of the ingredients available; secondly, the work his mother had done made the processes only that much clearer; and thirdly, Harry wanted to be able to understand why she had made those changes, and that would take an understanding of Arithmancy–particulary the subset called 'Grammatica'.  


* * *

***A.N.**_ I am leaving this note to announce That I am publishing a companion volume to this story on this site, entitled: __On the Nature of Magic, and other treatises_. In this, I will put what amount to snippets of books and papers that are either found at Godric's Hollow, or are used by me to explain further something I mention in the story. Feel free to contact me, or leave a review on either story, to request some explanation of some magical thing I bring up. If I feel it can be explained in form of a paper from Harry's world, it will be published to the work, if not, I will respond with a message. If any of my explanations seem too unclear, I will try and make them clearer.


End file.
